This is my favorite restaurant @ the moment! The majority of the food is sourced within 360 miles, and it is delicious. Katrina and I went to this place for happy hour the other week, and we were immediately hooked. I have not tried the entire menu yet but I intend to! Their lunch and dinner menu looks equally impressive and no where lacking in things to taste, scarf, and drink. We are headed back here for breakfast this week, a review will follow.

“What is sustainable? To us, it means relying on and investing in our immediate community and geological placement. It means utilizing our resources in an efficient and renewable manner that we find closest to us. It means dedicating ourselves to ensuring the health of our neighbors and loved ones by using the freshest, most naturally grown sources.”

~ Shout out to an old friend. Scribes is musically talented and unequivocally one of Seattle’s next best up and coming R&B artists. All the best. (Go to Scribesmusic.com to hear more! and download his work)

When did you begin your music career?

“I started writing raps when I was 15 or so. I had been a fan of hip hop since I was probably in the 3rd or 4th grade. I had always been kinda hesitant to start rappin cuz I was white haha and I didn’t wanna look like a fool. But during high school I remember seeing a bunch of different freestyle battles and I couldn’t help but get involved in it. It started with free styling just goofin off, then developed into writing raps, then to recording songs, and then to cutting entire albums. I’ve kept progressing ever since. I dropped my first album in August of 04 before going into my junior year of high school. By the time I was finished with the album my mind was set on pursuing rap/music as a career.”

When is the next release?!

“I’m hoping to release my full length album sometime between Nov. 2010 and Feb. 2011.”

What is your take on sustainability? Is it just a buzz word, or is it important?

“I would say that the word sustainability is kinda beyond me. I understand what it means and its significance but I don’t feel like I’d ever personally use it in a casual conversation or even in an intellectual conversation. Haha I would probably just say “doing shit that’s good for the environment”. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for it and I do think it’s a very important issue if not the most important but it’s a really complicated one.”

“It’s obviously important to help preserve the environment and echo system for this generation and generations to come just for the simple fact that we as humans won’t survive without it. But, actually successfully going green and reversing some of the negative things we as humans have done to the environment is a complicated and difficult task.”

Click Photo to view link ~ Photo Credit: Powell Images

Is there any talk about the music industry trying to become more “green”?

“People talk about going green in the music world but to be completely honest it is not really in my genre of music. In general rock artists (haha and just about everything not rap) are more willing to talk about the environment. And I definitely feel em. I’m all about it too. It’s just that i see the issue as being a little bit more complicated than just going green. I personally don’t live a green lifestyle at all. I mean don’t get me wrong I don’t own a car but that’s ‘cuz’ I’m too broke. Before I got rid of my car I was ‘whippin’ a 92 gas guzzling ford explorer. I recycle or whatever but that’s about it. Really to be completely honest I don’t pay attention to news on the environment or going green cuz frankly I don’t have the luxury to. I’m morally all about improving the environment in a black and white sense but I feel like because of the economic level I’m at I don’t really have very good access to the necessary resources. The problem is that there are too many people who gotta go work entry level positions for big business who exploit the environment.”

“Here in America we talk shit about big companies while much of our economy is held up by those businesses. But there are few people here who are willing to make the necessary sacrifices to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. If we are going to successfully improve the environment we have to make “going green” more accessible to normal folks. A lot of companies have made tremendous strides. For example, one of my jobs is being an assistant manager at an apartment building. The company has replaced all of the toxic cleaning supplies that are bad for the environment with cleaning supplies that are less harmful. That’s a step in the right direction. But it’s too often that folks like me have to work for business that don’t care about the benefit of the environment. Then with the little bit of money we are paid we put the money back into businesses similar to the ones we work for by buying the cheapest products available on the market, anything from food, to clothes, gas, cars, whatever else. If u are struggling financially are u gonna support an organic company that costs bank or are u gonna buy some cheap food?!?”

“So when it comes to rap music specifically u gotta remember that although it’s become one of the dominating genres of the world it still comes from the hood. Cats in the hood have too many struggles in their day to day life to rap about shoppin at whole foods or whippin a prius (Not to mention to few of the people in the hood gain access to higher education. Education is very important when it comes to informing people about the environment.) Hopefully it will change but it won’t change until environmentally friendly products become more accessible to blue collar people (which certain companies have done, I believe the Prius is surprisingly cheap). And yeah it’s arguable that some of those rap artist who have been successful should be rapping about the issue but a lot of those artists are still carrying the scars and pressures of the street. A lot of cats overcame huge obstacles and struggles. Just about anybody in their shoes would have came out the same (some worse). The rap game isn’t all about being politically correct it’s about surviving. Few people are strong enough to maintain their morality and survive. The rap game is honestly an animalistic game. That’s largely the reason that it for a long time hasn’t been understood by middle and upper class white America. But at the same time, it’s starting to change. Things are becoming less gangster. Folks are beginning to expand and have a little more room to be themselves as artists in hip hop. People from all different ethnic and economic backgrounds are involved in the music. I think because of it more rappers will be promoting going green. I think it’s tight. It’s kind of exciting to see but at the same time it’s a trade off. People have to pay fewer dues to the street to gain success in hip hop so therefore more artists come out lacking a real understanding of the struggle that hip hop came out of. But whatever the case is something has to change. The world as we know it won’t survive without change. And the world is a big thing to throw away. I think change starts with improving the lives of working folks. Like I said improving the environment might very well be the most important issue we face but there are so many other issues tied to it.”

photo by Canh Nguyen

If you could travel to one place in the world where would it be, and why?

“I don’t know specifically where I’d travel to if I had the option to go anywhere but in all honesty it would probably be a place where I could relax and get my mind off of the day to day work of my life. Some place where I could have fun.”

If you could be any type of animal in the world what would it be?
“haha, I have no idea what animal I’d be. Maybe a bird? Flying seems like it’d be fun. I like being a human.”

The major issue with mass transit for many people is the uncertainty of it all. Taking that away makes it more appealing and more efficient for its users. Over in the German city of Hamburg, the public has pushed for electronic bus stations. GPS correlated schedules allow the public to know if their bus will be 2 minutes early or 15 minutes late. While Seattle is not perfect, I think we too should have electronic bus schedules at every stop, METRO does have an automated bus schedule via telephone. People waiting for the bus or planning to take the bus may call the number and check on the timing of their bus route by punching in the route number. (Automated METRO line # 206.456.0609) In Italy, where things are always fashionable, the city of Florence has announced that it will try to be fashionably on time. The city will install 1,000 Eye Stop poles and 200 Eye Stop bus stations. These bus stations named “bus stations of the future” are solar-powered, change colors when the next bus is nearing the station, interacts with users phones, plans routes, allows video advertising capability, and can even twitter the status of a neighborhood bus route. The only thing the bus stop cannot do is check the surrounding air quality, oh wait, it does that too!

For the past few months I have had the great pleasure of working on a documentary for the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition. The coalition is a non-profit organization gaining momentum in environmental justice a topic emerging under the environmental umbrella. The EPA defines Environmental Justice as such, “Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.”

The lower Duwamish River is an interesting site for that it is one of the most toxic Superfund sites in the country. Over the years, chemicals and toxins have found their way into the river through drainage systems and water runoff. The neighborhoods along the river have thus become affected. These include the South Park and Georgetown communities. It is not only a problem for these disadvantaged neighborhoods, the Duwamish River runs directly into Elliott Bay and out to Puget Sound.

Due to environmental regulation a majority of industry along the river has been cleaned up. But, there is still a lot that needs to be done to transform this Superfund site. Major figure heads in the cleanup have been the DRCC (Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition), the Port of Seattle, the Environmental Protection Agency, the City of Seattle, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

GoGreen ’10 is a one day sustainability conference for business in Seattle on April 21st, 2010 built to motivate, inspire, and educate business owners to “go green” and become more sustainable. As an action-oriented, non-typical conference, GoGreen ‘10 teaches tactical steps on how to “green” your business and provides actionable next steps to sustainability for business owners. Attendees will learn from live success stories and participate in panel discussions geared to provide solid takeaways to make any size of business the most sustainable that it can be.

The GoGreen Conference features over 40 business leader speakers and 10 different sessions on how to build sustainability into your business.

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About Me

As a kid, I used to love playing outdoors, romping around, digging in the mud, rolling in the grass, and building log cabins out of sticks. You name it and I played it: capture the flag, kickball, soccer, baseball, and basketball. My clothes inevitably became stained with the color of green. They were grass stains, evidence of my playful experiences.

The environment has stained our childhoods with fond memories of play, but we have rudely reciprocated by soaking it with pollutants, chemicals, and toxins. These contaminants have proven to be nasty and difficult to remove. They can be found in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and amongst the landscape we live, work, and play. It is time to get back to our roots and give back to our environment.

Norwegian Philosopher and Deep Ecologist Arne Naess once claimed that, “like humanity, the environment as a whole has the right to live and flourish.” In the Road Trip Nation Manifesto, they state, “As a generation, we need to get back to focusing on individuality…Listen to yourself…Your road is the Open Road.” In Kevin Caroll’s book “Rules of the Red Rubber Ball,” he writes about several life rules. His rule number four is “Prepare to Shine.”

Now more than ever we understand that we live in a global economy and that environmentally we must take care of our Global Commons. What we do with our lives can not only influence our own community but can also have a profound impact on our world. These philosophies, these understandings, are the kinds of insights that help you inspire to imagine that you can be something bigger than you are.

Sustainability, ecological comprehension, becoming aware of Environmental Justice, and green tactics are just some of the ways we can reciprocate. Prepare to flourish, prepare your individuality, and prepare to shine because just as the grass stained my clothes green as a young boy, cities can also be stained ”Green.”

Welcome to GRASS STAIN. Feel free to romp and dig around!

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About “My Generation”

More than 60 percent of college students today, participate in study abroad programs. We are a generation that has traveled the world. We stay interconnected through a variety of social and technological means. A collection of experiences and impressions of how the international community is dealing with issues of the environment can be seen through the eyes of “My Generation.” Feel free to go global in this featured section above!

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“Quotes:”

"As the human population grows and our demand for natural resources increases, more and more habitats are devastated. Today, we may be losing 30,000 species a year -- a rate much faster than at any time since the last
great extinction 65 million years ago that wiped out most of the dinosaurs. If we continue on this course, we will destroy even ourselves."
- American Museum of Natural History

A vision without a plan is just a dream,
A plan without a vision is just drudgery,
But a vision with a plan can change the world.
- DRCC